Rare San Francisco earthquake color photos found from 1906

These three-dimensional photographs of the aftermath of the 1906 earthquake in San Francisco might be the first color photographs of the city, according to the Smithsonian’s National Museum of American History. The so-called Krömgrams were taken by Frederick Eugene Ives several months after the April 18 quake, and were meant to be viewed through a device called a Krömscõp.

Market Street Flood Building, Oct. 1906

This stereo view includes an added layer on the left showing part of the original black-and-white separation with the image of a man walking and a trolley car. On the right you can see the effect of movement in this color process registering as color streaks.